BlackBerry Key2 LE Review

Blackberry is not a company that will be launching different devices all year long, but they actually are indeed looking for a nice time to launch the devices. Although the company is currently being held by TCL for the hardware division while the software is still under them only, we can say that the devices from the company are coming as per the expectations.

Again targeting the best of the business users in the world BlackBerry is looking forward to them to take the Key 2 LE for their day to day needs. We will be talking about the Smartphone in a second.

First, we need to ask about your preference of a physical or a touchscreen keyboard, what do you think will a physical keyboard will be helpful for you in any way if for most of the time on your current Smartphone the keyboard is open then a physical one might have suited better. Let us have a look at the phone and see if the BlackBerry Key 2 LE is going to be your pick for your daily work for the next couple of months.

Design & Build

As it was the case with ever blackberry phone even in the past, even the BlackBerry Key 2 LE is looking quite different with the current industry standards. This particular device comes with a totally different size of the screen and happens to have a unique form factor onto the phone.

When we talk about the placements of the components, we have the blackberry logo at the back in the center on top of the rubberized plastic back. On the left-hand side corner, we have the dual camera unit along with the flash unit.

On the front we have a screen which will be talking about later in the review, then we have the physical keyboard below the screen, and then we have the capacitive buttons that are totally out of the site recently since early – 2017. The whole phone is made up of Aluminium frame and happens to have a plastic back onto the phone which is even rubberized.

The in-hand feel of this particular phone shines out in the industry due to the feeling that we get from the phone which is even a bit nostalgic at least to the BlackBerry phones user base. The phone feels tough and at the same time also feels rugged and hence can be saved from breaking early quite easily.

Display

With the Blackberry’s take on the display size of the BlackBerry Key 2 LE being quite unique at 4.5 inches which is much lesser than it is on any other standard smartphone, and same is the case with the aspect ratio of the mobile phone which is a unique 3:2.

The display panel is an IPS LCD one which happens to have a resolution of 1080 x 1620 pixels and hence delivers a pixel density of 434 PPI. Protecting the screen is the Gorilla Glass 5 which is the toughest glass in production from Corning.

In real-world situations we can easily say that the company is having the best in class display on this particular phone as it shines out on the whole device, the contrast ratios are excellent, you can view the best of images on this device without any issue.

If you are viewing a movie then there are black bars all around, and that does irritate you a lot. Coming to the keyboard which is a physical one does let you use the full device without any issue and you are never going to see any part of the display being obstructed due to the keyboard.

Performance

Talking about the processor, the one which is taking care of all the calculations that are to be done on this particular device, either that is done by the user, or by any software. It is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor which was built on the 14 nm platform.

This makes it easy for the company to save most of the battery power as this particular processor is a really efficient one. Assisting the same is the Adreno 509 GPU taking care of most of the graphical duties. Along with the same is the 4Gigs of RAM taking care of the multitasking duties.

When you are using different applications you can easily notice the fluency on the device, because there are much fewer pixels that are needed to be driven, at the same time the processor is quite fluent. The keyboard helps much in the different uses as it also supports the touch gestures.

Gaming on this phone is not much possible as you will have a weird location to actually game on the phone, hence it is not suggested, still the vertical games such as the Subway surfers run quite well and the keyboard works as a trackpad for the game hence there is no issue and you can even play the game in a much better combination.

Camera

Keeping line to line with the current industry standards we have the BlackBerry Key 2 LE using the best in class dual camera setup where the primary sensor at the rear is a 13MP one with an aperture value of f/2.2 while there is even a depth sensor at the back which is a 5MP one with an aperture value of f/2.4. Coming to the front unit we just have a single capable camera on the front which is an 8MP unit with an aperture value of f/2.4.

When you capture different images from this particular phone you can easily notice issues such as the images not coming sharp from the front camera, and from the rear camera, the images comes a bit of over smooth.

The issue might be due to the software optimization but that is something that currently the camera is not able to perform. If you use any other camera application then the images come a bit better and from both the front and rear one you can see that the images have good quality colors and saturation.

Battery

Blackberry has loaded the BlackBerry Key 2 LE with a 3000 mAh battery which is quite adequate noting the small size of the display. The display doesn’t eat much of power and the physical keyboard again helps. The phone can easily live above 28 hours on a single charge with the daily usage of normal calls, camera, WhatsApp, Facebook, and other usage falling in similar categories. If you are someone who needs a phone for day-long usage then this particular device can be considered.

Verdict

Overall the BlackBerry Key 2 LE is a great device and does feel good in the hand. When it comes to building quality it excels and same is the case with the display quality, although the size of the phone is quite small when compared to other phones.

It is majorly the camera which is the downside of the device, otherwise, it is one of the best phones for any business user. What do you think about the all-new BlackBerry Key 2 LE from the company? Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.